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Health Benefits of Sex

The most credible study connecting overall health with sexual frequency comes from

Queens University in Belfast. They tracked the mortality of about 1,000 middle-aged men over the course of a decade. After 10 years, the British Medical Journal revealed, the men who reported the highest frequency of orgasm enjoyed a death rate 50 percent lower than the others.

Other studies show that having sex a few times a week has a direct link to:

° Reduced risk of heart disease: In a 2001 follow-up to the Queens University study, researchers looked at cardiovascular health. They found that by having sex three or more times a week, men lowered their risk of heart attack and stroke by 50 percent.

° Weight loss: Sex is exercise. A vigorous session is about the same as running for 15 minutes or playing a game of tennis. During sex, your pulse rate rises from about 70 beats per minute to 150, similar to what you'd get from a vigorous workout at the gym.

° Pain relief: Just before orgasm, your level of a hormone called oxytocin surges to five times its normal level. This, in turn, releases endorphins, which alleviate the pain of everything from headaches to arthritis - even migraines. (In women, sex stimulates the production of estrogen, which can reduce the pain of PMS.)